Celebrating my 7th birthday in Sri Lanka

When we arrived in Sri Lanka we were all really tired because we’d had five really hot, crazy days in India. I had also got scratched by a dog and so had to go to hospital and have two rabies jabs, so it had been quite a busy week.

We met Ruka, our guide and driver and he took us to our first hotel. The next day we had a really long drive to Anuradhapura where they have loads and loads of ruins. We were all tired that day. When we got out of the minibus we went to the most sacred temple in Sri Lanka. It was really hot and as we arrived I was sick right at the entrance and I’d just had a massive lunch, so there was quite a lot. Everyone was staring so we were quite embarrassed and then, what was even worse, was some street dogs came up and started eating it!!!! Poor Ruka, it was our first proper day with him and he then rushed up and cleaned up my sick. We walked around the temple while he did this and when we returned Ruka was praying to Buddha and mummy thought he was saying sorry Buddha that these people threw up and he was probably asking for forgiveness.

This is the temple and I was sick at the top of those stairs

The second day we drove to Dambulla and saw more temples. Some were built into the rock like caves. We also found the ruins of where monks used to live and they had a massive swimming pool, which was about 200 metres long. Mummy, Daddy, Lola and Betsy went to look at the moon stone and I stayed in the car with Ruka, because I felt a tiny bit sick and didn’t want to risk throwing up there. While we were waiting we saw on the side of the road a man and he had a Python and a Cobra in baskets. He also had a monkey on a bike with superstar clothes on. Me and Ruka went over and petted the Python. When mummy came back she didn’t like it because she doesn’t like seeing animals tied up to bikes.

That night we were staying in a really nice hotel. They had a welcome ceremony for us. A man played a big drum and we had to light some candles. Whilst we were doing the ceremony they had a swimming pool and they squirted fountains into the pool and it looked really nice.

The next day it was my birthday!Everyone woke me up playing a happy birthday song and I just sat up and started dancing in my pants. I opened some presents. I got a watch, some skittles, an iPod, a wooden elephant and a girl power t shirt. At breakfast the hotel gave me a cake and it was also a day when all the staff bring in their families. We ate some cake and then we gave the rest to the staff for their party, as we were leaving and we couldn’t take it to Kandy.

When we left we found that Ruka had put balloons and party poppers in the car so it was like a party bus.Ruka drove us to Sigiriya Rock, which is also called the Lion Rock because there used to be a palace on top and they’d carved a massive lion into the rock as the entrance.

We had decided to climb all the way to the top. It was really, really high at 660ft and there was 1202 steps up. When we got to the top there was the ruins of the palace which was amazing but no shade, so it was very hot.

After we’d climbed down we drove to Kandy and visited the temple of the tooth relic. This is where they have one of Buddha’s teeth. We read the story about how it came to be there. When Buddha died someone took one of his teeth but some people came to get it and so it got passed on and on and on and then the British people in Sri Lanka gave it back to the Sri Lanka people. We also saw a massive elephant that was probably the size of half of your house. He was called Raja and he was a special elephant because he used to carry the tooth on a procession each year. He was actually dead and had been stuffed and was in a special room. I was very surprised that his tusks were still on as usually some bad people take them to sell. He is the only elephant that has been stuffed in the world.

After that we went to a show and saw some traditional dancing and some men walked across hot coals that were on fire with bare feet and then they ate fire and put it on their face, arms and legs.

When we got to our hotel I got another cake. They put it in our room and spelled WILLOW in different coloured rice. When I blew out the candles I accidentally spat on the cake.My birthday was a really, really nice day and I loved it so much I think it was the best birthday ever.